The New England Pirate Museum

Post Visit Activities

Elementary School

Have the students continue the WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT PIRATES activity begun as a pre-activity. - Ask students if any information should be eliminated from the list that they made as a pre-activity because that information turned out to be untrue. Then ask students to volunteer information they have learned about pirates and add it to the list.
Select from the activities packet those worksheets that are appropriate for your students' age and skill levels. Those suggested for elementary students include: PIRATE FLAG, TREASURE MAP, PIRATE WANTED POSTER, LIST POEM, and MAKE YOUR OWN COMPASS
Have the students make a POSTCARD FROM A PIRATE (an activity sheet is provided) Have the students pretend that they are pirates sending a postcard to another pirate. On one side of the form the students should draw an appropriate scene. On the other side, the students should address the postcard and write a few lines commenting on their illustration. You may also want to have the students design a pirate stamp.

Middle School

Taking into account differing reading levels, assign the students to read any book on the entire bibliography.
Have the students develop a TIME LINE FOR NEW ENGLAND PIRATES. The time line should cover the period from 1600 to 1850. The enclosed brief biographies may give the students a start, but challenge the students to develop their time lines with additional library research. Consider giving extra credit to those students who decorate their time lines. Once the time lines are completed, they can become the basis for writing activities that stress sequencing of events.
Using the notes which the students took during the museum tour, have the students do THE BLUE ANCHOR TAVERN and PIRATE BANKS activities included in this packet.
Select from the activities packet those worksheets that are appropriate for your students' age and skill levels. Those suggested for middle school students include: ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT, A PIRATE MIRAGE, PIRATE SHIPS, PERSONAL TREASURE CHEST, SALAMAGUNDI.

High School

Have the students complete the enclosed activities that are appropriate to their grade and skill levels.
Have the students combine the PIRATE SHIP'S LOG and PIRATE'S DIARY activities and make class presentations.
Have the students investigate what pirate treasures have been discovered locally (e.g. Bellamy's "Whydah" at Wellfleet) and what treasures are still sought after (e.g. Veal's at Dungeon Rock in the Lynn Woods, Blackbeard's on Lunging Island in the Isles of Shoals, Kidd's at Misery Island in Salem Harbor etc.) Students should gain an understanding of how the treasure hunt proceeds - the role of historic records, the use of maps, "hunches" and educated guesses etc.
Have the students investigate the various types of vessels used during this period. Some examples would be: shallop, barque, brigantine, schooner, etc.
Assign the students to read some classic novel or short story relating to the Age of Pirates. Some Examples might be Stevenson's Kidnapped or Treasure Island, Defoe's Robinson Carusoe, or Dana's Two years Before The Mast. - Washington Irving's Tales of a Traveler contains the short stories "Kidd, The Pirate", and "Devil and Tom Walker".
Have the students do a "Web Search" on the Internet for the word "piracy" to discover how many different ways the word is used today. Students will be surprised to learn that high seas piracy is still a problem in some regions of the world. Students could be assigned a report comparing and contrasting the pirates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with those of today.